Moments of Peace
by nithman
Summary: Peace means the freedom to dream. A Theoca one-shot, post-war.


**Dreamer**

It was a quiet night at the newly-built Cornaro Manor. The sky was dark and cloudless, painted by the light of the moon and the stars. Decorations were strewn all around the gardens, leftovers from the Harvest Festival that had been hosted there that night.

All the villagers had left a few hours ago, and one by one, the members of the Cornaro household had also headed back to the manor to sleep. Only two people remained by the dying bonfire in the center of the gardens.

Siluca and Theo sat side by side, enjoying the warmth and the silence.

The former mage couldn't keep herself from smiling. It seemed so easy to smile these days. This life of peace had just begun, but it was already everything she had imagined and so much more. Sistina was beautiful, her first Harvest Festival had been amazing, and now Theo sat by her side, one arm around her, gazing at the stars.

She couldn't ask for anything more.

It was Theo who broke the silence. "Hey, Siluca."

"Yes, Lord Theo?"

Theo paused and frowned. "Siluca, how many times have I told you? I'm not a Lord anymore. You're my wife, not my mage."

Siluca's eyes widened. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Theo. Force of habit." She sighed. "Adjusting isn't as easy as I thought it would be."

It was difficult, living in the aftermath of the Grancrest. No Magic, no Crests, no wars. But at least she still had what mattered most.

"I know," Theo chuckled. "It's okay. This kind of life was my dream, but I know it must feel so new to you."

Siluca nodded. "I really do love living here," she said. "Sharing your dream makes me happy. I just need some time to get used to it. And now, after the war, we have all the time in the world." They shared a smile.

"Which is why I was going to ask," said Theo. "Do you have a dream?"

Siluca paused. "What?"

"Do you have a dream, Siluca? Something you want to do, or see, or have, more than anything else in the world?"

She smiled. "A future with you?"

Theo's eyes widened, his face lightly blushing. Siluca smirked. It wasn't often that she made him blush. Usually it was the other way around.

"Enough with the sappy romantic lines, Silly," he said, although she could tell he didn't mean it. He never meant it when he called her Silly. "Seriously, though, is there nothing else?"

She leaned into his side, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. "Where is this coming from all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," he said, "I guess I just . . . it's always been you by my side, making my dreams come true, and now I don't have any more dreams left to fulfill. I just thought if there are any dreams that you have, I want to help you achieve them, too."

Siluca sighed, resting her head back on his chest and gazing upward. The stars were so clear out here, so different from the skies of her hometown Eramu, where the bright lights of streets and buildings and magic overpowered the stars.

"Did I ever tell you how I became a mage?" she said eventually.

"No," he replied.

She sighed again, feeling a familiar sorrow take hold. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying. "I was born in the outskirts of Eramu, you know that. My parents were merchants, not mages. My father was a practical man, and my mother was the kindest woman in the world. I had a little sister, too. I used to have dreams back then—little ones, like becoming rich, or marrying a prince, or seeing the world."

Theo, as if sensing her sadness, tightened his arm's grip around her. "You don't have to tell me if it hurts you."

She smiled gratefully. "I want to tell you, Theo. This is a part of who I am." She took a moment to close her eyes and gather her thoughts, then continued. "One day, a band of robbers attacked our home. Father wasn't there. My mother protected us with her body. She was killed. And something . . . some part of my soul broke into pieces, right then. I don't know how, but I summoned a Chaos demon, a giant snake. It killed every robber in the house." Her voice broke. "The demon killed my sister, too."

The silence stretched on. Theo pulled her closer. "I . . . Siluca, I'm sorry."

Siluca laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I was sorry too. But my father didn't care. He disowned me, said he would not have a Chaos witch in the family. Other mages wouldn't adopt me, would refuse to teach me. And then Aubest Meletes found me."

"That's why you love him so much," Theo realized. "He saved you."

She nodded. "All the years after that were a blur. I soared through the Mage Academy. For a while, I thought that might be my dream, to be a mage . . . but when I finally graduated with six colors, it seemed . . . so empty, you know? There was no satisfaction in it. It seemed more like an atonement for my mistake, a way to take responsibility for my powers."

"Your sister's death wasn't your fault, Silica."

"I know that now, but for a long time, I believed it was. I thought that gaining control over my magic was my most important goal in life." Siluca paused. "The other students would look at me and see some young magic prodigy, but I never thought of myself that way. I was scared of the power, and I wanted to control it. That was why I studied as much as I did. Nobody could understand that. Anyway, I apprenticed with many court mages after graduation. What I saw disgusted me. The mages, the lords, they were so petty and greedy and vengeful. They oppressed and stole from their people. I think . . . I gave up then. I gave up on everything."

Theo frowned. "What do you mean, gave up?"

"I just . . ." Silica sighed. "I didn't see a reason to live. We both remember, Theo. Before the Grancrest, it was all so pointless. So much bloodshed, so many lives lost, for nothing. I believed that no matter what I did, nothing would change. So when I was assigned to go to Count Villar, I just accepted my fate. And then, I met you."

Theo didn't know what to say. He just nodded, listening.

Siluca smiled. "You don't know how much you did for me, Theo. You showed me that it was okay to believe, to have faith in people, even in a world as cruel as ours. You shared your dreams with me and gave me something to _live _for. You saved me."

"I . . ." Theo put both arms around her and hugged her. "I didn't know that meant so much to you."

They shared another long silence, watching the wind carry sparks from the dying bonfire upward to the heavens.

"There is one thing," she mumbled into his chest. He lowered his head to listen. She looked up to meet his eyes, then looked down again uncertainly. "I don't know if I can call it a dream, it's not really important right now, I guess, we have plenty of time, and I wouldn't want it right now anyway, and I don't know if you want it, and I guess if you don't want it then I won't, but I really do want—mgh"

She was stunned silent by a soft warmth on her lips. She relaxed in his embrace, closing her eyes and putting her arms around his neck. And all too soon, the moment was gone. Theo pulled back and smirked, gaze locked with hers, eyes full of mirth.

Her cheeks flushed red. "You're laughing at me."

Theo's smirk turned into a smile. "Maybe I am. Now what were you saying, before I so rudely interrupted you?"

"I . . ." Siluca looked down.

He put a gentle hand under her chin and lifted her face up. "Just tell me, Silly."

"I just . . . I remember my mother, and my adopted father, and Aishela taking care of me, and I remember my little sister, and Emma and Luna, and now that the war is over I really—" She hesitated, her blush growing darker. "I've always wanted to raise a child of my own."

Siluca looked down, not wanting to watch his reaction. She was a confident woman, but when it came to things like this—emotions, feelings, dreams—she never knew quite what to say, or how to say it.

"Siluca . . ."

His voice was neutral, betraying no emotion. What if she had messed this up?

"Hey, Silly." He lifted her chin up again, looking her in the eye. And before she knew it, he was kissing her again, gentle and calming. He pulled back with a smile. "That's a perfect dream for you."

"We don't have to if you don't want to!" she said quickly.

"I _do_ want to," he replied. "Maybe not now, but when you're ready."

She was too stunned and overjoyed to say anything in reply.

"You've been by my side, sharing my dreams, through all these years of war," said Theo. "I want to be by yours, sharing your dream, through as many years of peace as we will have. And I would be proud to raise a child of our own."

Siluca blinked back tears. She recalled that back then, during the Grancrest War, they had all preached peace and happiness, but nobody knew exactly what that peace would mean. They had never seen peace, so they had no idea.

Now, she knew what it meant.

Peace meant the freedom to dream.


End file.
